Tag Archives: smartphone app

I’m writing this brief post as a warning to any individuals who have purchased the smartphone app AF Detect (screen shot below from Apple app store.) It is not a reliable detector of atrial fibrillation (AF).

A patient of mine with AF recently purchased this app unbeknownst to me. He relied on its faulty information which reassured hm he was not in AF when in fact he was in AF. Such misinformation has the potential to lead to dangerous delays in diagnosis.

There are multiple reviews on the Apple and Google app sites which confirm the total lack of reliability of this app to diagnose AF with multiple instances of both failure to detect known AF and inappropriate diagnosis of AF when rhythm was not AF.

In the description of the app the company says the app will “transform you rmobile device into a personal heart rate monitor and atrial fibrillation detector”.

However after purchasing the app and before using it you see this disclaimer which states it is not to be used for any medical diagnosis.

I will be performing a more detailed analysis of this app’s performance in the future and contacting the FDA about the danger such inaccurate medical testing confers on victims.

In the meantime if you have any experience with this app or other apps claiming to detect AF reliably using detection of the pulse from finger application to the camera lens please share them with me (via email DRP@theskepticalcardiologist.com or via comments below.)

The skeptical cardiologist was shocked to hear that there was a smartphone app which he had heretofore been unaware of that claimed to measure blood pressure.

Made by Aura Life and named Instant Blood Pressure, the app was apparently selling like hotcakes on the Apple app store until it was abruptly removed in 2015.

Users are instructed to put the top edge of the smartphone on the left side of the chest while placing the right index finger over the smartphone’s camera

Since it was created by “a team of forward-thinking biomedical engineers and software developers” and is to be used to measure one’s blood pressure one might be fooled into thinking that it might accurately measure blood pressure. Don’t be silly!

The IBP web site clearly states:

“Instant Blood Pressure is intended for recreational use only. It is not a replacement or substitute for a cuff or other blood pressure monitor. Instant Blood Pressure’s performance and accuracy characteristics do not meet international standards for a blood pressure monitor intended for clinical use.”

How does one use a blood pressure device that is not really intended to measure blood pressure for recreational use? Beats me.

A research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine reports that the app is really inaccurate: 77% of patients with hypertensive blood pressure levels were assured that their blood pressure was in the nonhypertensive range.

The authors note:

Between its release on June 5, 2014, and removal on July 30, 2015 (421 days), the IBP app spent 156 days as one of the top 50 best-selling iPhone apps; at least 950 copies of this $4.99 app were sold on each of those days.2Validation of this popular app or any of the similar iPhone apps still available (eg, Blood Pressure Pocket, Quick Blood Pressure Measure and Monitor), have not been performed.

Don’t rely on any smartphone app to accurately measure your blood pressure. None of them have been validated and they are being promoted by charlatans looking for a quick buck off naive consumers.

Excuse me while I check my BP with my Omron 10 real BP monitor. I think it might be really high now.

Skep Doc.
The website of Harriet Hall, MD. Mother, family doctor, USAF flight surgeon, pilot and author. With almost 800 posts in my blog, you’d think I’d run out of topics to write about. The good news is, when it comes to so-called alternative medicine (SCAM), th

Important Medical Links

Skeptical Medicine
This outstanding website comes from John Byrne, MD. It has a wealth of really well-written and well-researched articles and touches on critical thinking in medicine, logical fallacies, statistics, alternative medicine, pseudoscience, and quackery.

Prominent Quacks And Snake Oil Salesmen

Excellent Review of Dr. Oz
Summarizes how Dr. Oz has gone from respectable physician to snake oil promoter. The reasons for this transformation are unclear but I advise my patients to ignore anything he says at this point.